Drain pipe stoppage preventer



0d. 1959- 1.. K. VAN DER BEL 2,909,788

DRAIN PIPE STOPPAGE PREVENTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 19, 1956 FIG.2

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United States Patent DRAIN PIPE STOPPAGE PREVENTER Louis K. van der Bel, Amsterdam, Netherlands Application June 19, 1956, Serial No. 592,358

6 Claims. (Cl. 4-255) The invention relates to a device for preventing stoppage of the drain pipe of a wash basin or the like as a result of impurities present in the water drained through the drain pipe which device is made of supple, deformable material, such as a plastic and is provided with a part for retaining impurities and with a shaftshaped handle with the aid of which the device can be brought into and out of the drain pipe, as is known from U.S. Patent 2,506,669, Figure 4.

This known device, consisting of a U-shaped part provided with inwardly directed teeth and of a central shaftshaped handle, also provided with teeth, has the advantage that it is not necessary to clean it each time which, of course, is an unhygienic operation, but when it shows signs of stoppage as a result of retained impurities, can be rejected together with the impurities and can be replaced by a new one. This, of course, is economically justified only when the device can be made of a material which is cheap.

Contrary to the advantage of the known device there is the drawback that the capacity for taking up impurities, notwithstanding the presence of the teeth, is rather slight since the u shaped part of thedevice is bent of a strip of material which in comparison with the internal diameter of the drain pipe is narrow so that in the mounted condition of the device in the drain pipe at both sides of the middle part of the strip a rather large flow opening remains free. The chance that impurities come into the drain pipe through these two flow openings and stop the pipe in the long run, therefore, is to be considered as being rather great.

Moreover the known device can only then be mounted in an existing drain pipe provided with strainer cross bars when these bars have been removed from their groove. The said groove should namely serve to keep the device in its place in the drain pipe. In a drain pipe without such a groove the device cannot be used.

An object of the invention is the provision of a device of the kind mentioned in the first paragraph which has the said advantage of the described known device, but does not have its disadvantages. This is to say that it is an object of the invention to provide a device having a greater capacity for taking up impurities than the known device without the flowing speed of the water being perceptibly influenced and capable of being used in drain pipes with as well as without strainer cross bars.

For that purpose the device according to the invention is characterized in that the part for retaining the impurities has the shape of an open basket acting as a sieve which basket is provided with a round end face with projections and ribs arranged at mutual distances along the periphery of this end face which ribs converge from the end face in the direction of the lower end of the shaft shaped handle.

The internal diameter of drain pipes of sanitary devices such as wash basins and bath tubs are substantially normalized at present. Small variations in the internal diameters are not excluded, however. By providing the end face with projections which can be obtained, e.g., by carrying out the end face in a somewhat lobed form, devices according to the invention with one certain diam= eter can be applied for drain pipes with small variations in their internal diameter. It has namely been experi-- mentally established that an end face which is not purely circular adapts itself better to small variations in the internal diameter of the drain pipes than a circular end face. Moreover the application of an end face with projections renders it possible that the device according to the invention can also successfully be used in a drain pipe which is not provided with cross bars for supporting the device. The projections-at the periphery of the end face ensure a tight clamping of the device against the inner wall of the drain pipe. I

It is remarked that U.S. Patent 2,640,593 relates to a drain pipe stoppage 'preventer of another type than that according to U.S. Patent 2,506,669 and that according to one of the globular parts extends from the drain pipe in any position of the device in the drain pipe, it is to be removed when one wants to close the wash basin or the like with a stopper in order to fill it with water. This in contradis'tinc'tion with the device according to theinvention-which need not be removed.

I Some embodiments of the device according to the inf vention are elucidated with the aid of the drawing;

In the device according to Figures 1 and 2 1 indicates the shaftshaped handle of supple plastic which handle at the top has a loop 2 for easy handling. At the lower end the shaft 1 joins the basket-shaped part of supple plastic which acts as a sieve. This part consists of an open end face 3 which is somewhat lobed at its periphery and is supported on the cross piece 4 (Figure 2) of a drain pipe 5, and of ribs 6 extending upwards from the end face 3 to the lower end of the shaft 1 and immediately connected therewith, retaining hairs and the like. The number of ribs 6 is arbitrary. In this case it amounts to 4. The shaft 1 is exactly over the center of the end face 3. If desired, the end face 3 can be subdivided into compartments by ribs (not represented).

It appears from the figure that the passages 7 between the ribs are very ample and that consequently the Water will be subject to little resistance when flowing away.

The shaft 1 is made so long that when the device is arranged in a drain pipe 5 provided with cross bars 4 it extends somewhat from the top side 8 of the drain opening. Consequently the device can be removed without difliculty. Since the shaft 1 is very thin and flexible, the stopper 9 of the drain pipe 5 can nevertheless be pressed into the drain opening without difficulty. The shaft 1 and, if necessary, also the ribs 6 then are bent a little by pressure of the stopper 9. After the removal of the stopper the shaft and ribs 6 will stretch themselves as a result of their elasticity.

It appears from the embodiment of Figure 3 that the ribs 6' at the top are not directly connected to the lower end of the shaft 1', but via a capor cupola-shaped part 10. Loop 2' at the free end of shaft 1' performs the functions of loop 2 shown in Fig. 1.

In the embodiment according to Figure 1 the possibility exists that the hairs come to lie over the upper part of the ribs 6 and stoppage occurs too rapidly. According to the invention this can be prevented in a certain degree by the arrangement of the cap 10 which forms the bottom of an open basket consisting, in addition thereto, of parts 3' and 6', and guides the hairs better in the direction of the ribs 6.

It also appears from Figure 3 that the end face 3 need not be lobed at the periphery (as in Figure 1) to assure a clamping in a drain pipe without cross bars, but may also be provided with pointed projections 11.

Figure 4 represents an embodiment which also is provided with a basket-shaped part consisting of a lobed end face 3" and ribs 6" but which is distinguished from the preceding embodiments in the measures that the ribs 6" are not connected immediately but, according to the invention, indirectly to the lower end of the shaft 1", via ribs 12 and that the ribs 6" are not directed away from the lower end of the shaft but, according to the invention, exactly extend in the direction of its upper end. Ribs 12 constitute the bottom of open basket which, in addition thereto, consists of parts 3" and 6". For the rest this embodiment has the same advantages as the two others.

When the device is not made in such a manner that it forms a unit then the shaft and the basket-shaped part can be made separately and detachably connected, e.g. by clamping of the lower end of the shaft in an opening of the basket-shaped part, e.g. in the cupola of Figure 3.

The advantage hereof is that only the basket-shaped part need be replaced after stoppage and the shaft can be used again. The shaft can be made hook-shaped at its lower end so that the basket can be easily lifted from the drain pipe. When using a loose shaft this preferably is made of hard material.

What I claim is:

1. A device for preventing drain pipe stoppage, made of flexible material and comprising a rod-shaped handle, a substantially ring-shaped member arranged in a plane perpendicular to the handle and having a peripheral zone, means for connecting said ring-shaped member with one end of said handle comprising a set of equally spaced ribs diverging outwardly from the handle toward and each connected to said ring-shaped member, said ribs and said ring-shaped member forming part of an open basket having a bottom connected with said handle, and said ring-shaped member having a plurality of projections extending from the peripheral zone of said ringshaped member for holding the member in the drain pipe.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the ribs diverge outwardly from the handle end in a direction opposite to the direction into which the handle extends from said end.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said ring-shaped member has a lobed peripheral zone, the lobes constituting said projections for holding the member in the drain pipe.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said means further comprises a cupola-shaped part concentrically connected to said handle end, said cupola-shaped part constituting the bottom of said open basket and having a circular rim, the ribs being connected to said rim and diverging toward said ring-shaped member in a direction opposed to that in which the handle extends from said cupolashaped part.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said projections are radial ribs to provide said means for holding the member in the drain pipe.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said means further comprises a plurality of radial ribs constituting the bottom of said basket and interconnecting the diverging ribs with said handle end and the latter ribs diverging in the same direction toward said ring-shaped member as the handle extends from said end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 572,788 Duke Dec. 8, 1896 731,190 Kuhlman June 16, 1903 944,710 Whitney Dec. 28, 1909 1,757,977 Salvatore May 13, 1930 l l l i a 

